


Questions That Should Probably Go Unanswered

by elliot_cant_write



Category: If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio
Genre: Leah doesn't get enough love so today we are giving her some love, M/M, Post-Book
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 15:03:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15121985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliot_cant_write/pseuds/elliot_cant_write
Summary: Leah shows up at Colin and Alexander's house asking questions about Oliver.





	Questions That Should Probably Go Unanswered

Colin never stayed up late. Alexander teased him about it endlessly, saying it was like he was dating a seventy-year-old, but it seemed pointless. Why stay up late if he had to get up relatively early? He was just going to be exhausted the next day, which would negatively impact anything he wanted to get done.

Alexander could never understand. He was a sleepless, coffee-fiend who hardly functioned without consuming several cups of caffeine, and he was fine with that. Colin, personally, prefer not feeling like garbage all the time. But to each their own.

So it was around nine o’clock when the doorbell rang, and Colin had just gotten out of the shower and was hardly dressed, and even if he was, he hardly wanted to be greeting mystery late night guests in on of Alexander’s old sweatshirts and kind of gross sweatpants. Not to mention his hair, which was a wreck to say the least. 

“Alexander!” Colin yelled down the hall, pulling the aforementioned old sweatshirt over his head. “Can you get that?”

“I’m working.” Alexander yelled back. “You get it.”

Colin raised his eyebrows. Last time he had seen his boyfriend, he had been reading movie reviews. But okay. “You owe me.” He muttered, making an effort to pat down his hair as he walked towards the door. He couldn’t see who it was outside the door (one of their porch lights had burnt out a few nights before and neither he nor Alexander had gotten around to going to the store and buying new lightbulbs) so he just opened it and hoped it was Filippa or someone who had seen them all much worse anyway.

Instead, the person he found behind the door was a small, dark haired girl who was clearly younger than the rest of them, and pretty in like a...girl way. She stared at him. He stared back, because he was great with people. “Hi?”

“Hey, who is it?” Alexander, evidently no longer ‘working’, popped up behind Colin. “Oh. Fuck.”

“Hi, Alexander.” The girl kind of waved. “Is it okay if I come in? It’s cold and there are bugs.”

“Yeah, come in.” Alexander quickly said, moving to the side and pulling Colin with him.

As the girl walked past, Colin gave Alexander a questioning look, because, you know, some random girl showed up on their porch at nine at night and they clearly knew each other and now she was coming into their house. Colin made a conscious effort to be less paranoid than he wanted to be, but what the fuck?

‘Oliver’s sister’, Alexander mouthed, before following the girl. What were Oliver’s sisters named? Leah? Caroline? Yeah, that seemed right. But which was the younger? 

Alexander gestured for the girl to go sit at the table, while he got a cup of water for her. Colin sat across from her, attempting to study her without her noticing. Not in a creepy way, more in a I-have-questions-that-neither-you-nor-my-asshole-boyfriend-are-answering way. Or was that a little weird too?

She really did look like Oliver, he noticed. Both had very nice cheekbones and something similar that he couldn’t identify in the eye-area. 

“So.” Alexander sat down, sliding one cup of water to Oliver’s sister and the other one to Colin. He, on the other hand, had coffee. Because of course. “What are you doing here, Leah?”

Leah. That was the younger one. Having a name and vague identity made Colin feel considerably better. 

Leah sat straighter in her seat, clearly trying to look more imposing than she was. “I want answers.” 

Colin and Alexander exchanged a glance and both pretended they didn’t know what she was talking about. 

“Don’t do that!” Leah snapped, almost immediately figuring out what they were doing. “Filippa won’t tell me shit, Meredith and Wren won’t take my calls, and nobody will let me talk to James. You two are the only ones left.”

Alexander took the leap. “Leah, I know you’re going through a very hard time right now, but we all got the same information. None of us understand what’s going on.”

“That’s a lie and we all know it.” Leah’s voice shook slightly. “Oliver wasn’t a murderer. My parents are assholes, Caroline might as well not even be my sister anymore with how little I see her, and I need to know that at least one person I care about isn’t the fucking worse. It’s been two years. I think I deserve to understand what’s going on, and I know that you know.”

Alexander pressed his palms into his eyes. “Shit, it’s too late for this. I’ll make you a deal. If you call your parents and tell them where you are, you can take the guest bed, we can all go sleep for awhile, and we can talk about this again in the morning when you aren’t angry, Colin isn’t tired, and I’m not stressed. Okay?”

For a second Leah looked like she might have wanted to argue, but Alexander gave her a look that Colin knew made just about anyone fold in seconds, and she nodded. “Okay. Uh, can I use your phone?”

Colin nodded, getting up to grab their house phone and handing it to Leah. “Go ahead.”

“Thanks.” She turned away, clearly wanting privacy. 

Alexander brushed Colin’s wrist, and gestured to the hallway. Colin followed him.

“What are we going to tell her?” He whispered, crossing his arms over his chest. Leah’s voice drifted out of the kitchen as her parents picked up. “James and Filippa made us swear we wouldn’t say anything.”

“Well we don’t have to straight out tell her ‘oh your brother was actually super fucking gay for his best friend and the aforementioned best friend totally lost his shit after he accidentally stabbed Caesar so Oliver took credit since he’s, you know, super fucking gay for James’. We can say, I don’t know.” Alexander shrugged. “We could say that we know Oliver wasn’t guilty but there was too much evidence?”

“That wouldn’t work. Oliver admitted to it. She’s going to remember that.”

“Fuck, I forgot about that.” Alexander leaned against the wall, clearly thinking. “We could just wait until she goes to sleep and then call Pip.”

“Yes, because calling Pip is the solution to all of our problems.”

“Is it not?”

Colin kind of laughed, less in a ‘this is funny’ way and more in a ‘oh my god, what have our lives come to’ way. “Okay, fine. We’ll call Filippa.” He cracked a smile, leaning closer to Alexander. “‘Call your parents and tell them where you are’. What, are you pretending to be a responsible adult now?”

Alexander lightly shoved him away, rolling his eyes. “Oh, fuck off. I know you’re supposed to be the mature one, but I’m an excellent adult.”

Colin was about to say something back that was definitely dumb and hopefully funny, but Leah interrupted, having finished her call. 

“They want me to go back tomorrow.” She said quietly, drained of her previous anger and now just looking tired. They booked me a plane ticket for noon.”

Alexander gave Colin a you-have-siblings-deal-with-this look. Colin dealt with it.

“We’ve got a guest room upstairs. Bathroom next to it too. Want me to show you where it is?” Leah nodded, and Colin lead her upstairs as Alexander disappeared down the hallway to do God-only-knows what. 

When they got to the room, Colin opened the door and pointed out where the bathroom was. “You can shower if you want. If there’s any clothes or anything lying around, just throw it in the closet. It’s probably Filippa’s; she’s always leaving her stuff here.” He slipped his hands into his pockets. “You need anything else?”

She shook her head, dropping the bag he hadn’t even realised she had on the bed. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Colin tried for a reassuring smile. “See you in the morning.” And he closed the door and left her alone.

•

Alexander was in their room by the time Colin got Leah settled, balancing a cigarette between his teeth as he tried to get a lighter to work. It wasn’t going well. Colin was vaguely amused.

“I thought we didn’t allow smoking in the house anymore.” He said conversationally. “Also, that lighter hardly works ever. Why not just not use it?”

“Well, I’m not allowed to do anything harder,” Alexander complained. “And I have an aesthetic to keep up. Sue me.”

“God, you’re so annoying.” Colin picked up the phone and dialled Filippa’s number, switching it on to speaker. “I’ll make sure to tell her this was your idea.”

Alexander disregarded his cigarette and sat down beside Colin on the bed, crossing his legs. “Filippa’s smart. She’d figure it out on her own.”

The phone rang a few times before Filippa picked up. Music played in the background. “What’s wrong?”

Alexander sighed. “Why do you automatically always assume something is wrong?”

“Prior experience.” The music changed and they heard a door slam shut. “If you’re going to be somewhat indignant, can I assume nothing is severely wrong?”

“Your assumption is correct,” Colin leaned forwards, furrowing his eyebrows. “Where are you?”

“A restaurant.” Pause. “On a date.”

“Oh my God, really?” Alexander said, sounding way too excited. “With who?”

“None of your business.” Filippa answered curtly. “Anyway, can one of you please just tell me what you need before she decides I’ve ditched her?”

Alexander look like he was still entirely focused on Filippa being on a date, so Colin took over. “Leah’s here. Oliver’s sister? She’s asking questions about, you know, but we aren’t sure what we can tell her.”

Filippa sighed. “I told her to go home. Should have figured she wasn’t going to give up that easily though. Wren says she’s been trying to contact her too. Suppose we can’t really blame her though. As for what you should tell her, what if you just said he was innocent?”

“And then what? That answer just leads to even more questions.”

“So don’t answer them.” Filippa said, like that was something simple. Probably was if you weren’t the one having to do it. “Just tell her you can’t say anything else. Don’t act like you know who did it or why Oliver took credit. Say nothing except that Oliver didn’t touch Richard.”

“God, it’s like you’ve done this before.” Alexander grinned, seeming much more okay now that they had some sort of plan. “Thanks, Pip. You’re brilliant. Have fun on your date.”

“It will be a lot more fun if you don’t call me again. Love you both, bye.”

She hung up, and Alexander turned to Colin. “Good enough?”

Colin chewed on his lower lip. “I don’t like it. But good enough.”

•

Morning. Colin never woke up late. He had managed to train his body to wake up just after seven, so that he didn’t have to set an alarm and risk waking Alexander, who preferred not to wake up before nine. But today was different. If Leah had a twelve o’clock flight, she would have to leave by nine. Alexander’s ideal schedule wasn’t going to work. 

“I wish for death.” Alexander flopped onto his side, looking at Colin from under half-closed eyes. “Is this how you feel every day?”

“No.” Colin said, sitting up. “I’m used to it. Are you getting up, or do I have to do this myself?”

“I’m getting up.” Alexander waved his hand in Colin’s general direction. “Just...give me a second.” 

Colin nodded, getting up and going downstairs. The guest room’s door was still closed, so he assumed Leah was still asleep. A hardly thirty seconds later, Alexander came clomping down the stairs behind him. Annnd she probably wouldn’t be after that.

“Do you want eggs?” Colin asked, hand hovering over the egg carton ready to grab two more. 

Alexander shook his head. “Nah, I’ll just have coffee.”

“You need protein.”

“I need caffeine.” 

“Why not both?” 

Alexander gave him a look. “No sane person eats breakfast at seven in the morning.”

Colin didn’t answer. Some things were better just not arguing. “Remember. All we can tell Leah is that Oliver is innocent. Don’t even bring up James and Meredith or anyone.”

“Yes, I know.” Alexander said, fiddling with the coffee maker. “I was there when we talked to Filippa too.”

“I’m just stressed. Let me talk.” Colin transferred his eggs from the pan to his plate. He paused. “Do you think Leah would like eggs?”

Alexander shrugged. “I’d wait. If she doesn’t eat eggs or something than I’d have to eat them and I don’t want to.”

They were both sitting at the table, Colin with his eggs and Alexander with his coffee, when Leah did come down, fully dressed and with her bag by her side. “Hi.”

“Do you want eggs?” Colin asked.

“No thank you.” She glanced over to where Alexander had left half a pot of coffee. “Can I have some coffee though.”

Alexander gave Colin a smug look. “Mugs are in the cabinet left of the sink. Help yourself.”

“Thanks.” Leah poured herself a cup and sat down at the table across from Colin and Alexander. “So. You told me we would talk this morning.”

“Yes.” Colin fiddled with his napkin, trying to be calm. Or was that not the right response? Shouldn’t he look nervous? There had to be a divide between being nervous because he was being practically interrogated by a young girl and being nervous because he was hiding something. But where was it?

“Look,” Alexander eventually said, seeing that Colin clearly wasn’t going to be making much leeway. “I know you’re upset, and trust me, I get it. This fucking sucks. But all we can tell you is that Oliver is innocent.”

Leah’s face immediately crumbled and she looked like she was trying really hard not to let actual tears fall. “If Oliver didn’t...kill Richard,” She wiped at her eyes. “Then why did he say he did?”

Alexander and Colin exchanged a look. “That’s all we can tell you,” Colin said cautiously. “I’m sorry.”

Colin felt like a terrible person.

•

Leah insisted on leaving immediately after they refused to tell her anything. Alexander offered to drive her to the airport, but she said she could just walk to the bus stop up the street. That was how she had gotten there, after all. Alexander tried to talk her out of it, but there was no changing her mind. Eventually Colin told him to just let it go, and asked Leah to call them when she got home so they’d know she made it okay. She said she would, picked up her suitcase, and then she was gone. 

Alexander had sat on the couch, his legs curled up under him, and after staring out the window for a few seconds, Colin sat down next to him. Alexander leaned his head onto his shoulder. “Sometimes,” He muttered darkly. “I’m really fucking pissed off at James.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Alexander dug his nails into his palms. “It’s just a mess, you know? First he goes and instigates Richard for like half a year, then he actually hooks the guy and lets Oliver take the credit for it, which we end up finding out about because he has a total fucking breakdown in the middle of our kitchen one day. And then the worst part? He’s such a wreck now that I can’t even be that mad at him about it without feeling like a bad person.”

Colin was quiet for a few seconds. Then, “This fucking sucks.”

That got a smile out of Alexander. “Don’t plagiarize me.”

Suddenly, the phone rang. 

“I’ll get it.” Colin stretched back to grab the phone. “Hello? Oh, hey. Yeah, she just left.” ‘Pip,’ He mouthed to Alexander. “No, we didn’t tell her anything we weren’t supposed to. Hey, can I put you on speaker? Alex is here too.”

“Hi Pip!” Alexander said as soon as the phone was on speaker. “How was your date?”

Filippa’s eye roll was practically audible.

**Author's Note:**

> I write way too much for this fandom, especially as someone who has a 50+ chapter hamilton raven cycle au planned out.  
> Anyway, so I've never really written Colin or Leah and nobody really writes about Colin or Leah, so I thought this would be fun. It's not my best work, but I'm okay with it. I'm trying to have more fun with my writing and let it be more relaxed.  
> Thanks to all who've read. As always, tumblr is penguinsarebetterthanpeople if anyone wants to debate with me if Colin actually has ten billion siblings like he does in my mind.  
> (in case anyone was wondering, Pip was on a date with Wren and it went great)


End file.
